2002-03 Men's Basketball

bc 58, mc 71

Bluffton falls to HCAC pre-season poll champ Manchester 71-58

Bluffton College was dealt a 71-58 loss in Founders Hall Wednesday night by Manchester
College, the pre-season favorite in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference coaches'
poll.

It was the first HCAC game for both teams, as Bluffton drops to 0-1 in the league
and 2-4 overall, while Manchester improves to 4-1 overall and 1-0 in the HCAC.

Bluffton trailed by just six points at halftime despite shooting 23% from the floor
and going 0-for-9 from 3-point range in the first half. Bluffton's defensive pressure
forced 13 Manchester turnovers in the first 20 minutes and the Beavers grabbed 10
offensive rebounds.

Early in the second half, however, the Spartans went on a 13-0 run to go up by 20
points with 13:45 left in the game before Bluffton mounted a comeback of their own
with an 11-0 run that brought the deficit to six at 50-56 with 5:26 remaining.

That would be all the closer Bluffton would get, however, as the Spartans would hold
BC without a field goal the rest of the game.

After 13 turnovers in the first half, Manchester gave the ball away just three times
in the second half and finished the game 10-for-21 from 3-point range and took a 42-35
advantage on the boards.

Bluffton turned the ball over a season-low 10 times and committed a season-low 13
fouls, but Manchester held Bluffton to several other season lows, including points
(58), field goals made (19), three-point shooting (3-for-20) and total field goal
percentage (.317).